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AIPAC, AJC, ADL: TO HELL WITH THE TURKS
By J. Rosenberg
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/13/aipac_ajc_join_with_greeks_mad_about_turkish_stanc/
October 13, 2010, 3:18PM
It must be fun being the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
the Anti-Defamation League, or the American Jewish Committee. You can
switch policies on a dime and everybody understands. For decades,
these three have been unabashedly pro-Turkish. If Turkey was for it,
they were for it. No matter what the issue -- even one as emotional
as the Armenian genocide -- the big three Jewish organizations backed
Turkey to the hilt as did their Congressional cutouts. (Not long
ago, ADL fired an official in Boston for saying that there was an
Armenian genocide). The reason. Turkey was (and, in my opinion,
is) Israel's most powerful friend in the Muslim world. Going back
to its first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, Israel worked hard at
maintaining a strategic friendship with the Turks. And so did Israel's
lobby in America. By extension, the lobby did not like Greece,
Greek Cyprus, or anything the Greeks liked. The organizations loved
sending delegations to Turkey, encouraging Jewish tourism there, and
celebrated Turkey as utterly free of anti-semitism. (The Greeks were
dismissed as incorrigibly left-wing). No more. Ever since the Turks
opposed the Gaza invasion and blockade, the lobby has been furious at
Turks for their temerity. Its prime minister even publicly admonished
Shimon Peres about Gaza in Davos. And then there was the flotilla
incident (about which Turkey has infinitely more reason to be angry
about than Israel), Within the period of a few months, Israel and its
lobby turned on Turkey with a vengeance. Even the 1915 genocide that
previously wasn't a genocide became one overnight. Now Turkey is the
country the lobby loves to hate. Assuming that the best way to stick
it to Turkey is to suck up to Greece, that it what AIPAC, AJC, and ADL
are doing. In lockstep. These guys remind me of American communists
back in the 1930's, with their sheer dexterity at shifting policies
in about an hour! How silly can you get? Jonathan Broder writes all
about it in Congressional Quarterly (I don't have the link because
I can't afford a subscription) but here is a small excerpt. It is
about the new lobby position on Cyprus, a subject about which it
previously showed no interest. But the new anti-Turkish position
applies across the board. (The American Jewish Committee should be
calling for renaming Istanbul any day now. Why not Constantinople?).
Here's Broder.
Pro-Israel powerhouses such as the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish
Committee, all of which had advocated effectively for Turkey before
relations between Jerusalem and Ankara began to fray, were among the
organizations that joined forces with several Greek-American groups
to lobby for passage of the Cyprus resolution. Bilirakis said Jewish
lawmakers and members of the pro-Greece caucus teamed up to get the
resolution passed. "Greece determined that closer relations with
Israel could diminish the strength of the Turkish-American lobby,"
said Ekavi Athanassopoulou,a political scientist at the University
of Athens.
And the word is getting down to the community too. "The Greek Islands
are prettier than the Turkish islands. And Greece is Israel's friend."
Hilarious. The islands are all beautiful. But Greece has never been
very friendly to Israel, while Turkey always has. Besides, even if it
wanted to, Greece cannot offer Israel what Turkey can: a key friend in
the Muslim word. Previous Israeli prime ministers would understand the
necessity of maintaining good solid ties with Turkey. After all, they
worked for decades to build them. But not Netanyahu and his sidekick,
Avigdor Lieberman. Their foreign policy is all about self-pity,
resentment, and spite. In this case, they are spiting themselves
and hurting Israel. And their pet lemmings -- the "pro-Israel"
lobby that is anything but -- are running off the cliff with them.
For Israel's sake, these people need to grow up. Israel should be
friendly with Greece. But it needs to be friendly to Turkey. Is that
too hard to grasp?
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPM Media LLC, which
also publishes TPMmuckraker, TPMDC, TPMtv and TPMCafe. Founder and
editor Josh Marshall began publishing Talking Points Memo during
the 2000 Florida vote recount. The site specializes in original
reporting on government and politics and offers breaking news coverage,
investigative reporting, high profile guest bloggers and a book club.
TPM Media is headquartered in New York City and has a bureau in
Washington, DC.
From: A. Papazian
By J. Rosenberg
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/13/aipac_ajc_join_with_greeks_mad_about_turkish_stanc/
October 13, 2010, 3:18PM
It must be fun being the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
the Anti-Defamation League, or the American Jewish Committee. You can
switch policies on a dime and everybody understands. For decades,
these three have been unabashedly pro-Turkish. If Turkey was for it,
they were for it. No matter what the issue -- even one as emotional
as the Armenian genocide -- the big three Jewish organizations backed
Turkey to the hilt as did their Congressional cutouts. (Not long
ago, ADL fired an official in Boston for saying that there was an
Armenian genocide). The reason. Turkey was (and, in my opinion,
is) Israel's most powerful friend in the Muslim world. Going back
to its first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, Israel worked hard at
maintaining a strategic friendship with the Turks. And so did Israel's
lobby in America. By extension, the lobby did not like Greece,
Greek Cyprus, or anything the Greeks liked. The organizations loved
sending delegations to Turkey, encouraging Jewish tourism there, and
celebrated Turkey as utterly free of anti-semitism. (The Greeks were
dismissed as incorrigibly left-wing). No more. Ever since the Turks
opposed the Gaza invasion and blockade, the lobby has been furious at
Turks for their temerity. Its prime minister even publicly admonished
Shimon Peres about Gaza in Davos. And then there was the flotilla
incident (about which Turkey has infinitely more reason to be angry
about than Israel), Within the period of a few months, Israel and its
lobby turned on Turkey with a vengeance. Even the 1915 genocide that
previously wasn't a genocide became one overnight. Now Turkey is the
country the lobby loves to hate. Assuming that the best way to stick
it to Turkey is to suck up to Greece, that it what AIPAC, AJC, and ADL
are doing. In lockstep. These guys remind me of American communists
back in the 1930's, with their sheer dexterity at shifting policies
in about an hour! How silly can you get? Jonathan Broder writes all
about it in Congressional Quarterly (I don't have the link because
I can't afford a subscription) but here is a small excerpt. It is
about the new lobby position on Cyprus, a subject about which it
previously showed no interest. But the new anti-Turkish position
applies across the board. (The American Jewish Committee should be
calling for renaming Istanbul any day now. Why not Constantinople?).
Here's Broder.
Pro-Israel powerhouses such as the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish
Committee, all of which had advocated effectively for Turkey before
relations between Jerusalem and Ankara began to fray, were among the
organizations that joined forces with several Greek-American groups
to lobby for passage of the Cyprus resolution. Bilirakis said Jewish
lawmakers and members of the pro-Greece caucus teamed up to get the
resolution passed. "Greece determined that closer relations with
Israel could diminish the strength of the Turkish-American lobby,"
said Ekavi Athanassopoulou,a political scientist at the University
of Athens.
And the word is getting down to the community too. "The Greek Islands
are prettier than the Turkish islands. And Greece is Israel's friend."
Hilarious. The islands are all beautiful. But Greece has never been
very friendly to Israel, while Turkey always has. Besides, even if it
wanted to, Greece cannot offer Israel what Turkey can: a key friend in
the Muslim word. Previous Israeli prime ministers would understand the
necessity of maintaining good solid ties with Turkey. After all, they
worked for decades to build them. But not Netanyahu and his sidekick,
Avigdor Lieberman. Their foreign policy is all about self-pity,
resentment, and spite. In this case, they are spiting themselves
and hurting Israel. And their pet lemmings -- the "pro-Israel"
lobby that is anything but -- are running off the cliff with them.
For Israel's sake, these people need to grow up. Israel should be
friendly with Greece. But it needs to be friendly to Turkey. Is that
too hard to grasp?
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPM Media LLC, which
also publishes TPMmuckraker, TPMDC, TPMtv and TPMCafe. Founder and
editor Josh Marshall began publishing Talking Points Memo during
the 2000 Florida vote recount. The site specializes in original
reporting on government and politics and offers breaking news coverage,
investigative reporting, high profile guest bloggers and a book club.
TPM Media is headquartered in New York City and has a bureau in
Washington, DC.
From: A. Papazian